


you could drown in those eyes

by orphan_account



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alcohol, Hurt/Comfort, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:33:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29473275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Actions have consequences, and you can't save everyone.Angsty-ish AU of the end of Season 3.
Relationships: Izumi/Kya II (Avatar), Korra/Asami Sato, Lin Beifong/Izumi, Pema/Tenzin (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	you could drown in those eyes

These- these people are strong. As much as Kya _hates_ the Order of the Red Lotus, they're good, very very good fighters. Unfortunately. Bumi is on one side of her, battling someone she can't make out; Tenzin is on the other, and bleeding profusely. Ming Hua... is not. She's relentless and endless and _spirits why won't you just **kill me** already?_

Kya almost falls back, and whilst she's off-balance, the Red Lotus woman steals her advantage and sends her slamming into the wall with a shard of ice. Before she can melt the ice away, it stabs her and _fucking hell_ this is one of the worst pains she's ever experienced- 

But then her brother is up and fighting and it's enough to distract her from the blood already staining her clothes.

_I don't want to die here._

She can almost imagine Bumi laughing, "Then don't."

* * *

The battle is raging and the last thing Lin sees of Tonraq is him being hurled into the mist. He's... probably going to die, but this isn't a good time to start worrying about other people's fates when-

A wave of fire from the combustion-bending woman sends her flying into the side of the cliff, and _fuck if that doesn't hurt._ She is, at the very least, not dead, even if her head hurts like hell and she probably has a concussion. _Why can't these people leave well enough alone?_ she curses, already preparing to hurl another wave of rocks at... was it P'Li? She thinks that's the name, but between the raging battle and her general disinterest in people she doesn't remember.

_Oh well... it's not exactly essential information._

* * *

"These two aren't going to last long..."

Jinora winces, looking at the scrapes on her uncle's face and the very concerning pool of blood surrounding her aunt. _They don't deserve to die please don't die please please please-_

She sighs, knowing wishes won't change anything, but still, _still,_ if only the world were fairer and things always went right and children were not expected to carry the weight of the world.

"Where's Daddy?" Ikki asks, clutching at her robes. _She's just a child, doesn't deserve to be locked up..._

 _Nobody deserves to be locked up._ "Close," Jinora whispers to her sister. "Daddy's going to be alright."

She can only hope it's the truth.

* * *

"Tenzin!" There's some sort of general cry of relief that he's alive. From who exactly is unclear, but, oh, he's _alive_ and isn't that its own kind of beauty? The Air Temple behind him crumples.

There's laughter and someone saying _I lavabended!_ which must be Bolin, grinning slightly and bleeding pride as much as the people around him bleed blood.

"Tenzin, Tenzin, you're alive, oh, thank all the spirits to hell and back-" Lin says.

"What... about my... family?" he coughs, out of breath, gasping. "My- my wife, and... children, and... _What happened to... Kya and Bumi?_ "

"They're injured." _Badly. Probably fatally, if they don't get help soon... and so are you._ "Look, you're in no state to fight, or do anything from the looks of it. Just- go get medical help, yeah?"

Tenzin nods. "...Okay."

_Thank you, Lin._

* * *

"Look-"

"-be careful-"

"-it's going to-"

"-brother?"

All Bumi can make out is _fragments_ and _why is it so loud my head hurts where am I what went wr-_

The temple. There had been that temple, and then, and then...

_Being attacked from all sides nearly fallingunconsciousfallingoffthatcliffnostopstopstopsto-_

Everything hurtshurtshurts and there's blood all over his hands and it's his and it just _hurts_ it hurts to breathe it hurts to move it hurts to _think_ and he really, more than ever, just wishes this were over already.

* * *

"Shh- it's going to be alright." _No, it's not, don't you see-_

Somebody takes her hand, and Kya grasp back weakly. "You're... you're gonna be fine, I promise." _Whoever's speaking is panicking. Healers should not panic._

"Look, just hold on, okay?" _I can barely see you... can't even speak-_

_You're doing this all **wrong!**_

Is that Lin? Is she seriously trying to heal this? _It won't work. Can't you see? Only someone like me could heal this now and I'm sorry but you're just not that good-_

She can barely stay conscious.

Eventually, she doesn't.

* * *

Korra hits the ground with an excruciating _thud,_ and all anyone can do is watch from a distance and pray she survives. Jinora stares at the one-on-one battle raging before her, airbender versus the Avatar. This is the man who had nearly kidnapped Korra as a child, had killed Great-Uncle Sokka in the attack. Who has decimated their forces and left her family bleeding, bruised, _terrified._

It's so not fair, that anybody has to die. Chaos can exist without murder, without torture. _He's gone way too far,_ Jinora knows this-

Korra _screams,_ eyes glowing and hurling wave after wave of fire at Zaheer.

 _Please,_ she thinks, as loudly as a silent thought can be, _don't die._

* * *

"Fire Lord Izumi!"

There's a cheer from some of the crowd as Izumi and Druk land, the Fire Lord bowing her head in respect. "Is everyone alright here?"

"Mostly," says Suyin. "The Avatar is... safe, at the very least. My sister has a concussion, even if she won't admit it. Most of the airbenders are fine, although Jinora passed out. All the metalbenders are fine, and so is Tenzin's family."

"Tenzin himself?"

"Not so good. The Red Lotus members beat him up pretty badly. And Kya and Bumi need proper help _soon._ Oh, and... there was one casualty. Korra's father. Kuvira told me he fell to his death."

"I- Suyin, get your family and friends to somewhere safe. I need to see Kya."

"I will. Look after yourself, Izumi."

Izumi laughs slightly. "You too, Suyin."

"I'll... try." _It's so hard sometimes._

Izumi's mournful gaze seems to say _I know._

* * *

"Bumi." Izumi nods respectfully. "Tenzin." Tenzin gives her a weak wave. "...Kya." _She's dying, I can tell._

"Kya," she chokes, _it's unfair, so horribly unfair,_ "no..."

"Yes," Kya whispers, barely audible. "I... I'm sorry."

"No- no, don't be sorry, you saved a lot of lives today."

"You promise?"

"Yes."

Izumi pauses.

"Who _did_ this?" Anger seethes at the back of her throat, but she'll stay calm. For Kya. Not for anybody else.

They don't deserve her restraint.

"The... waterbender. And... and the lavabender..."

Izumi doesn't pick her up, exactly, but she cradles her body, gently, softly. _It's okay._ _I'm here now._ "Would it help you to know they both died?" 

"...no..." Kya whispers into her shoulder. "...not... not... justice... peace..."

"I don't understand," she murmurs.

"...Air Nomad teachings. Their deaths... not justice. A life for... life... is not justice. This is why... we choose ...nonviolence."

"I see... I think."

"Izumi, please don't-" Kya coughs, shallower than ever.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Thank you," she says, with what seems to be the last of her breaths. Izumi can't stop staring, at her eyes, fading from the brightest blue she's ever seen to something approaching a cold, metallic blue. Cobalt. She could quite happily drown here, in these icy irises. And her eyes shine, not with life, but like black ice; deadly, unseeing. "I..."

She doesn't speak again.

* * *

Katara is furious.

Her anger is almost a thuderstorm; it hangs, a heavy loathing, one which could strike at any moment. There is no air to shift it; there is no fire to dissipate the water to a kinder place.

Lin is on edge; jumping at the slightest moment, snapping at anyone who dares _breathe_ too close.

Bumi is recovering, covered in bandages and cuts in equal measure; Tenzin is exhausted, falling unconscious in any place available. Suyin... is nowhere to be seen.

Most of the other people involved are fine, asides from the occasional headache or concussion - even the boy who _fell off the side of a mountain_ is fine. 

Korra, well.

She's at the very least awake now, which is more than can be said for her airbending teacher.

"You kids are screwed up, huh?" Azula says, perched precariously on the side of an icy sofa. "First with the whole Lin-Suyin scars incident, then the Lin-Tenzin inci- actually, maybe it's just Lin who's screwed up."

"Can't you shut up for _once?_ " Katara snaps. "You're just as unbearable as you were the first time I ever met you."

"Ah, well, at least we're not trying to murder each other anymore. And your homeland is healing. How beautiful this whole damn place is."

"The Southern Water Tribe's state when I was a child is _your_ nation's fault! Why don't you just leave and never talk to me again?"

"Fine! Screw you to the spirits and back, nobody here needs you anymore."

* * *

"Azula," Izumi murmurs, "please stop lashing out at Master Katara."

"She's fucking _insufferable,_ it's been _decades,_ why won't she just-"

"You hardly give her the space to recover." 

"And what would _you_ know about us?"

"It's always the same, 'Zula. You make a spiteful comment, Katara lashes out, you attack her back, Katara gets overly defensive, and the two of you start plotting to murder each other in private. Please could you just apologise?"

"I-"

Izumi glares.

" _Fine,_ " Azula huffs, "I'll try."

* * *

"I know you're hurting."

"You don't," Azula says.

"Yes, I do. We all are, and hiding from the world like you did as a young adult will do nothing to change that. Please, Azula, talk to me."

She sighs. "I've known you kids since you were... well, kids. Not that anybody wanted me around at that point." 

Nodding, Izumi pours a drink. Anything to numb the pain, which feels like being _stabbed_ all over again. (She's still got various scars from, oh, sixteen assassination attempts? Seventeen? Impossible to tell.) "You liked Kya. My memory is hazy, but she got along with you well."

"Yeah." Azula downs a glass. It burns her throat. "You seriously brought Fire Nation rum?"

"I always have it for flights."

"...Right. I forgot about the whole _getting violently airsick_ thing." Azula swallows. "She was your girlfriend at one point, right?"

"We were together, yes. The whole 'being in charge of a nation from a young age' thing was what drove us apart. I didn't want her dying young in an attempt on her life, she wanted to travel the world."

"So much for protecting her."

"Oh, I've never had any dreams of protecting Kya. She knew how to look after herself, and," Izumi chuckles, "she never would've listened to me anyway."

"You're a wise leader, Izumi. No idea how such a shitty family got _you_ out of it."

"You aren't all that terrible yourself," she whispers.

* * *

_The Earth Kingdom._

It must be in ruins. The Earth Queen dead, Ba Sing Se in disarray, and not one person to take charge in sight.

Well.

There is one person.

She just detests the idea with a passion.

"I am _not,_ " Suyin snaps, " _taking charge!_ "

"Suyin-"

"One of my oldest friends is dead, the Avatar is out of action, and you want me to _take over the Earth Kingdom?_ I have a city! I have a family! I fucking _refuse!_ "

This, of course, goes down in the worst way possible. "Typical fucking Su, you're just a selfish brat who won't take responsibility! This isn't a _game,_ there are people's lives on the line!"

"Lin-"

"It's always _me, me, me_ with you, isn't it? Well, I've had enough. You have a job to do. This is _your_ kingdom too."

"Lin, I've said it before and I've said it again, _fuck_ the monarchy! End of discussion."

Izumi raises an eyebrow.

"Uh. Sorry, Izumi."

"I'm not opposed to it," she laughs. Suyin blushes. "But seriously, as far as a monarch can go without being a hypocrite, monarchies have underlying issues. You've always been clever in politics."

"I talk politics because anyone who is supposedly 'apolitical' is extremely privile-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you done yet?" Azula says.

"Azula, you're exactly the kind of person she's talking about."

"Oh, shut it," she says affectionately.

"Never."

Lin, as always, sighs.

* * *

"...Lin?" Tenzin groans from his bed. "What are you..."

"I just-" She tenses. "...wanted to talk."

"Oh!" He grins. "That's good!"

"About Kya."

Tenzin's tentative smile fades. "Of course."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"

"No, Lin, it's-" Tenzin hugs her, tightly, _I'm never letting go and this is where the world ends._ "If it's anyone's fault it's mine."

"You were practically _dying,_ I had to hold you up to keep you standing. There's nothing you could have done either."

"Thank you. I think."

"There was never anything to forgive," she says, though it's muffled by the fact that her head is buried in his shoulder.

The door creaks open, making them jump. "Am I interrupting something?" Bumi snarks.

"No, actually, we were just discussing how terrible you're looking today," Lin says immediately. _Oh dear. So she's already back on the defensive._

"Look, it's difficult times for all of us at the moment. All I'm asking is somewhere peaceful... it's so loud."

"No it isn't," Tenzin replies.

"Everything's been so _loud_ since the attack. That, and I can't move properly. Hate it."

"I can;t breathe properly."

"I've had a non-stop headache for days now," Lin says.

_We all have lasting injuries._

_Including our grief._

_I hope that injury will heal, though._

* * *

"Jinora, are you alright?"

No response.

"Jinora, darling, you need sleep."

"But mama-"

"Honey, when was the last time you slept?" Pema asks. "You can't watch Korra condtantly."

"Mama, I just want to see her wake up!"

"It's been weeks, what makes you think it'll happen now?"

At that, Jinora starts crying.

"No- honey, I didn't mean it like that..." Pema brushes the tears off her daughter's face. "I just mean Korra was very badly injured, and it might be a while..."

Jinora stares up at her. "Do you think she'll be alright."

"Yes. Yes, I do," she says, mustering as much conviction as possible. "Now please, sweetheart, try your hardest to sleep. It's very difficult for you right now, and insomnia will only make the worst."

Jinora nods, eyes sparkling. "I miss Auntie Kya," she says. "I just wish I could've... been there. Done something, anything."

"You can't save everyone. But you know who we _can_ save? Korra, and Daddy, and _you._ Please stay safe."

"I love you, mama."

"I love you too. More than anything. Except maybe your siblings, and Daddy."

Jinora nods, settling into her arms.

Pema groans. _Why am I always the pillow?_

* * *

"She's awake!"

"Really?"

"Yes! Yes, Grandma Katara told me herself!" Ikki jumps up and down, shaking Jinora by the shoulders. "Come on, we should go see her! Asami's already there, it's really sweet actually!"

"I... sure," Jinora says blearily. _Mama must have moved me during the night..._

* * *

Korra is smiling, faintly. "Hello, Ikki. Jinora. Meelo," she says, with slight annoyance. "How... how long was I out?"

"Just under three weeks," Katara says from the other side of the room. "That man messed you up something wicked."

"Anything important I miss? Oh no, I didn't miss an airbending master's ceremony, did I?"

"No," Katara says, "that's happening in... a week's time, roughly speaking."

"Can I attend?"

"If you're good," she jokes. 

Korra pouts.

"Of course you can. I wouldn't dream of saying otherwise. Although, be warned, your body will not take kindly to it."

"Yeah, uh, everything hurts."

"You'll have to get used to that, I'm afraid. At least for a few... I don't know."

"Days?"

"I was thinking months. If you're lucky."

Korra's jaw drops.

"Zaheer did you dirty. And... well. There's-"

"What? What aren't you telling me?"

"There was... one death." Katara tensed.

"Who? Oh _spirits,_ was it... Asami..."

"No, your girlfriend is fine."

Korra went bright red.

"Exactly as I thought. Anyway..." Katara coughed. "It was my-" _Why is it so hard to say?_ "My-" _Admitting it out loud... makes it final._

"Your what?"

"Kya. Kya is dead."

"No! No, you're lying, she- _no!_ " Korra yelled.

"I'm so sorry. I tried to save everyone, but the injuries were just too bad."

"You're clearly just a shitty fucking healer then!"

Katara stared at her, like she'd been punched. "How dare you."

"I-" Korra took in what she'd said.

"How _dare_ you. Without me, _you_ would be dead. And to insinuate I didn't try my absolute hardest to save my _own child's_ life- how _dare_ you!"

"I'm sorry!"

"I don't _care!_ You people are never sorry." Katara walked out, slamming the door.

"I screwed up, didn't I?"

"Yep! Horribly."

"Thanks for nothing, Meelo."

"My pleasure!"

* * *

"Hello, Korra."

"Asami!" Korra hugged her, fiercely, desperately. "It's been.."

"A while." Asami gives her an aching smile, breathing in _Korra_ for the first time in three weeks. "It's so good to see you again, Korra."

She says her name like it's the most precious thing in the world.

_Maybe it is._

Korra lets go of her, beaming despite all the heartache and misery of the past few days. "Asami, _Asami..._ I missed you."

"What, you dreamed of me?"

She blushes. "Uh."

"Aw, honey, that's sweet."

Korra's blush intensifies. "I, um."

"Go on?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

"Jinora," Katara whispers, "I am so incredibly proud of you. You have done such an _amazing_ job, I couldn't ask for a better grandchild."

"Thank you, grandma!"

"And I'm not just saying that as a far-fetched compliment. I do truly mean it. Now go out there, and become a master on the outside, just like you are a master on the inside."

"Will it hurt?"

"Perhaps. But you are incredibly brave, and I know you can do this."

Jinora nods, nervously. "Wish me luck?"

"Always."

* * *

Izumi sighs gently at Lin, asleep on her shoulder. The five of them seem to have come to some sort of peace; there's still a painful gap where there should be Kya, but Tenzin is initiating Jinora; Bumi is watching from the back; Suyin is watching, fascinated, at the airbending rituals. (Izumi remembers Tenzin's initiation; he'd been twenty, she'd been twenty-six and bouncing a young Iroh on her knee, trying to keep him from wandering off. Tenzin hadn't really reacted during the tattoo process, but afterwards he'd started crying from the pain. Suyin is just as rapt with attention now as she had been then; a sixteen-year-old, absorbing every little detail of a whole culture reborn.)

She runs a hand through Lin's hair, careful not to wake her. She actually looks peaceful in sleep, no demons haunting her nor regrets eating her alive. Katara is at the front of the room, applauding Jinora; Azula is at the back, looking faintly amused. She might look cruel to strangers, but Izumi can see the pride in her eyes.

_We are all so very proud of you, Jinora._

_And I think - no, I_ know _\- Kya would be too._

At last, peace.


End file.
